Elim - Spring 2026

My guild offers a weekend retreat twice a year; usually the last weekends of April and September. This spring it was held last weekend because the organizer will be away the last weekend of April this year.

Poppy and I carpooled up to Elim Conference Centre on the east side of Pigeon Lake - north of Lindsay. We first unloaded our stitchery stuff at the Chapel where fourteen six-foot tables were set up for us. There were going to be a total of 26 stitchers over the weekend - some coming for the three nights, some for two, a couple for one night, and some only coming up for the day.

Most rooms have two beds but most of us don't share a room. There's a sink in many rooms and communal bathroom facilities. My upstairs room was very cozy but my preference is staying in one of the four downstairs rooms.

Thursday evening we had dinner at Jesse's in Ennismore. There was such a large serving of the souvlaki that I ordered I had the remainder for lunch the next day. Meal service started with dinner on Friday.

On Saturday morning, some folks ventured to Peterborough for a fibre festival but I already own all the fibre, and yarn that I have any need for so I chose to stay behind and stitch. 

One of the first projects I worked on was the wool felt appliqué watering can project.

This was a much more ambitious project than the previous wool felt 'bowl fillers' I had worked on. I'm a little over halfway done attaching the wool pieces, then will have the embellishing embroidery to do.

I then hauled out Newcastle Bouquet which I started about 5 years ago and keep abandoning. The gridding is really important because the elements are placed quite far apart. I managed to complete the two leaves on the bottom left and some of the outline of the flower above them.

Next was a little bit on the 'Bees in the Greenhouse' project - more of the white outline. I could have done more but other projects were calling to me.

I did a wee bit on the Spring Biscornu stitchalong.

Then completed the eyelet square in the second row, third column. I only had a diagonal of eyelets done in that square when I picked this project up. 

I just need to figure out what I'll do in the last two squares. One of my sources is an antique Danish pulled thread pattern book I picked up for $5 at a used bookstore in Sydney BC several years ago.

The one piece I did finish was 'Smitten' that I had started last year. I believe the 40ct hand-dyed fabric was a piece I bought in 2024 at Colorado Cross Stitcher in Loveland CO when I was out there visiting my longtime friend, Francey, in Fort Collins.

The pattern calls for snowflakes all around the mitten but I'm going to use HotFix 'bling' instead.

The last project I worked on was this whitework piece from Yvette Stanton's 'Frisian Whitework' book. 

I competed the second band at Elim and got a start on the third; then while still on a roll, I obsessively stitch the third and fourth bands yesterday at Monday stitching and last night. I brought my iPad into the dining room (where I was stitching) so I could continue binge-watching 'ER' episodes.

Because I didn't get to 'hurkle-durkle' yesterday as I was hosting stitching, I slept in this morning, listening to a podcast, alternating with some dozing off in my cozy bed. 

It took me a long time to fall asleep most nights at Elim so I had a lot of sleep/rest to catch up on.

It was a really fun weekend. When stitching at home, there are always household tasks to do that interrupt the stitching process. At a stitching retreat, we are without responsibilities and can indulge ourselves for extended periods of time.

Next week, Barb, Poppy, and I are heading off to the first weekend of Stitch North; another opportunity to get together with other stitchers and vendors for a lovely weekend away.